Step It Out
by can-you-imagine
Summary: Edmund glanced up from his place on the Jousting field and stopped breathing. In the stands, about halfway up, someone was standing up. She was in medieval dress, wearing a light yellow gown with black lacing on its long sleeves. Her curly hair was loosely braided and she had a plain silver colored circlet in her hair. She was smiling and seemed to expect something of him.


A/N: Enjoy the next segment of the unnamed Narnia series! Even if you haven't read the earlier segments, this should still make sense. Still, go read those.

DISCLAIMER: disclaimer.

0o0o0o0o0

Lucy woke up with the sun in her eyes. She groaned and turned, putting her arm over her eyes. She dragged her feet to the floor, and tugged herself upright. _Last time I wait up for him_, she thought. Edmund hadn't come home until sometime very late. Lucy stretched and pulled a dressing gown on over her nightdress.

She thumped down the stairs tiredly. She turned the corner to the kitchen and stopped dead. Edmund was cooking. And, nothing, not even a single piece of bacon, was burning.

When he sensed her, he looked up and smiled brightly, "Good morning, Lu!" Lucy, walked around the kitchen table suspiciously.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?" she said, slumping down into a chair. "Where's Ed, the not morning person?"

Edmund chuckled. "Oh, he's around here somewhere. There's eggs, bacon, potatoes, and carrots. Oh, and toast. What would you like?"

Lucy dragged a plate toward her. "Umm, potatoes, to start. When did you pick this all up? I was expecting oatmeal."

"Uhhh, last night," he served her potatoes out of the pan. "Or rather, this morning. I didn't sleep last night."

Lucy lifted her fork to her nose and sniffed. They smelled good. "Why?" she questioned.

"Got in late." He moved the pans off the burners and sat down with his plate full of eggs, potatoes, carrots and bacon. "I walked back across London, and it was so late I just decided it wasn't worth it. Left early this morning to pick up the food. It was still dark."

Lucy stared at him. "What _happened_at the library?"

Edmund chewed on his eggs thoughtfully. He answered slowly, nonchalantly, "Oh, you know. Normal, library type things. What say we go to the festival today?"

Lucy sat up in surprise. "The festival. We haven't been to the festival since we were kids."

"It's grown a lot since then. There are a lot more vendors and booths. The library's going to have a booth set up. There'll be jesters and circus acts and horses, I even heard there might be a joust. Are you willing to brave the crowds for a day of fun?"

Lucy looked at him. "If there is a joust, you're entering."

Edmund laughed. "Alright then."

0o0o0o0

"I can't believe you're actually going to make me joust." Edmund sulked as he sorted through the chest of armor. They had spent the morning and early afternoon touring the reenactments and tables, finally coming to the Jousting field.

"I said if there's a joust, you're entering, and there's a joust, so you're entering. I do wish that there was better armour though," Lucy responded as she picked up a grungy cuirass by the fingertips.

Edmund held up a set of chain-mail that had a large gap missing. "I'm going to get killed aren't I?" he asked.

"No you're not. At worst, something will get dislocated," Lucy looked at Edmund as he sighed. Setting aside the broken mail, he sifted through the pile until he found a full set of tarnished armour.

Lucy looked on with pride. "You look well, King Edmund." She put her hands on his shoulders. "A knight in tarnished armour. May you fight well. And you know, try not to kill anyone."

Edmund looked at her. "I'll do my best."

A "squire" led them to the makeshift stable. Edmund walked by the stalls, taking in each horse in turn. He finally stopped by a chestnut quarter-horse. "What's this one's name?" he asked the squire. "Philip." Edmund grinned. "Perfect. I'll take this one." The squire helped him put the saddle on Philip.

Edmund stood at Philip's head, stroking his neck. "Ready to ride, boy?" Philip snuffed, nodding his head. "I thought so."

He hoisted himself up onto Philip's back, and trotted toward the ring. The squire came toward him. "A girl asked me to give you this." He handed Edmund a yellow rose. Edmund took it, looking around. "She said she'd be watching in the stands," the squire picked up a lance laying nearby.

Edmund tucked the rose into a gap in his armour and took the lance. He took a deep breath and rode into the ring. The "king" stood up on a platform to the side of the ring, "Welcome good people! Welcome to the joust!" The crowd cheered. Edmund looked across the ring as the gate opened and the King's champion came through on a black, very solid-looking horse. Edmund gulped. The man was seated on his horse, but Edmund could tell he was very tall, very muscular and had a lot of facial hair. His armor was shining. The King continued, "Today we welcome the challenger, Sir Edmund!" More cheers, and some jeers. "This brave knight will be fighting my own champion, Sir Jonathan of the Round Shield! Let us wish him well!"

The squire ran up to Edmund. Edmund leaned down to hear him, "You do know what you're doing?" Edmund laughed. "Just ride straight, right?" Edmund clapped him on the shoulder and rode up to the start line.

The King looked at the two opponents. "Sir Edmund, are you prepared?" Edmund nodded. "Sir Jonathan, are you prepared?" Sir Jonathan nodded. "Fight fair, and fight well!" The crowd cheered. "When the trumpet sounds, ride!" Philip stepped excitedly under Edmund. Edmund observed his opponent and heard his teachers in his mind. _"Watch your opponent before you strike, learn his weaknesses. Don't charge in without thinking. It's better to lose a round and learn your opponent's strategy." _"On my mark!"_ "Use your head, Edmund. You're good at strategy, so implement it." _"3!" _"Just because your opponent is bigger or stronger than you, doesn't mean that you can't beat them. Use their weight and strength against them." _"2!" _"Fight well, ride straight, and for Aslan's sake don't look stupid." _"1!" The trumpet sounded and Edmund's focus narrowed to the track before him. Everything slowed down. Philip galloped ahead and Edmund leaned over the lance. Edmund felt each hoof beat reverberate through his body as they neared each other and as the crowd held its breath, they clashed together. Edmund felt a burning pain in his shoulder, knocking him back, but he stayed seated. Gasping, he dropped the lance. Sir Jonathan trotted up next to him, "Are you alright?" Edmund felt his shoulder carefully. "Dislocated shoulder. Just let me pop it back in before the next round."

Sir Jonathan looked impressed. "Alright then." He trotted back toward the gate. The squire ran toward him and grabbed the reins, leading Philip toward the gate that they came through. "I called for someone from the first aid tent. Will you still be able to fight?" Edmund scoffed. "I've fought with worse than this."

The squire looked at him in surprise. "How often have you fought?" Edmund didn't answer. The first aid person was waiting and helped Edmund dismount without jostling his shoulder overmuch. Still, Edmund had to try hard not to wince. "Don't tell me before you pop it back in. I'll try not to hit you." The man nodded and sat Edmund down on a cut log placed on its end. The man started talking to Edmund.

"Have you often dislocated your shoulder?"

"Often enough. Me and my brother messed around a lot. He always used to pop it back in. He was the only one brave enough." Edmund remembered all the times he dislocated his shoulder while training with his brother and their generals. The first time Peter reset it, Edmund hadn't been expecting it and reacted accordingly. He apologized but thought that it was appropriate seeing as Peter was the one to dislocate it. Edmund returned to the present with a gasp as the man shoved his shoulder back into place. Edmund grasped his shoulder and tried rotating it.

"Well done, mate," Edmund said, wincing. The man laughed under his breath. "It'll be sore, but you should still be able to fight. You don't seem to be one to give up easily."

Edmund shook his head and took the bottle of water from the squire who reappeared. He leaned back against the fence that was next to him. "Any tips, lads?"

The squire answered first. "He's strong, you're not gonna get him off the horse easy."  
The first aid man piped in, "Try and use his momentum against him. That's the only way you're gonna win."

Edmund thought as the two men walked away. The squire told him that the round would commence in 5 minutes. He stood and mulled around his options as he walked toward Philip. "Well Philip, are you up for a stupid idea?" Philip snuffed and nodded vigorously. "I thought so."

Edmund swung himself into the saddle and urged Philip toward the ring. The squire handed him a red and gold lance. Edmund laughed and accepted the lance, "Perfect." The squire wished him luck.

Philip trotted over to the start line. Edmund ran through his plan in his head. He would either win, or get even more seriously injured.

He wasn't afraid of injury, nor the pain, but he didn't want to Lucy to be angry or upset if he got injured. Having to leave the festival early because he broke a bone would be a disappointment to both of them.

The King stood up to cheers of the crowd. He gestured to Edmund's opponent. "Sir Jonathan my own knight!" The crowd cheered. He gestured over to Edmund. "Sir Edmund, the challenger, fighting despite his injury!" The crowd went wild. Getting injured and then coming back for more had earned him a lot of respect. He glanced at the crowd and stopped breathing. In the stands, about halfway up, someone was standing up. She was in medieval dress, wearing a light yellow gown with black lacing on its long sleeves. Her curly hair was loosely braided and she had a plain silver colored circlet in her hair. She was smiling and seemed to expect something of him.

Edmund nodded once and put the fist he made with the hand that wasn't holding the lance on the opposite shoulder in a kind of salute. He turned his face to his opponent. The King spoke, "Sir Jonathan, are you prepared?" Sir Jonathan nodded. "Sir Edmund are you prepared?" Edmund nodded, keeping eye contact with his opponent.

"On my mark!" Philip stomped and snuffled under Edmund. Edmund wrapped his free hand around the reins and hunkered down. "3." The crowd was screaming for their favorites. "Come on Edmund!" Lucy shouted over the masses. "2." The sky rumbled with thunder. Edmund remembered that evening in the pub, standing at the window when the girl beside him turned and smiled her mysterious smile. "1!" Trumpets sounded but Edmund didn't hear them. He felt Philip's hooves beat against the ground and made himself follow the movement of the horse. _You want the path of least resistance, _his teachers said to him. He saw Sir Jonathan rise halfway up out of the saddle as he charged. Right when the green and blue lance was seconds from Edmund's body, Edmund jerked the reins and Philip turned under him. The brown horse twisted around Sir Jonathan and his mount, circling around to face him. Following Philip, Sir Jonathan's horse turned sideways and Sir Jonathan 's momentum carried him off to the side. He landed on the ground, where he sat stunned.

The crowd just ROARED. The squire and the medic that had tended to Edmund earlier cheered from where they stood off to the side, and Lucy was jumping up and down in the stands. The woman in the yellow dress was just smiling with her arms crossed across her chest. Quietly, she stood and slipped away into the crowds.

Edmund sat straight up on Philip's back, still partially in shock. Luckily his horse was smarter than him, and Philip turned to walk in a circle to face the entire crowd. Feeling himself shift, Edmund came back to himself and realized the crowd. He grinned madly and lifted his fist to the crowd. Finishing the circle, he turned back to face Sir Jonathan and slipped off his horse and walked over. Edmund bent and offered Sir Jonathan his hand. Sir Jonathan looked at him and began to laugh. He accepted the hand and tugged himself up. They both turned to face the King. Sir Jonathan smiled at Edmund and bowed slightly to the King, backing a little away. Edmund bowed his head to the King.

The King spoke loudly so that the crowd could hear. "By the rules of the Joust, the challenger Sir Edmund has defeated my own Champion, Sir Jonathan of the Round Shield! He has earned the right to challenge any competitor in any Joust as long as he lives! By my right as King, he shall forever be known in my court as Sir Edmund of the Yellow Rose! Do the people approve?" Answering roars. "Then let it be done! Sir Edmund of the Yellow Rose shall be welcome at the Faire whenever he wishes, and shall be welcome to Joust again whenever he wishes!" Now he spoke to Edmund himself. "Congratulations. It is not easy to best the King's Champion." He winked and turned to walk away. Sir Jonathan stepped up to grin at Edmund. "Clever thinking my boy. I look forward to a rematch." Edmund grinned back, "Some other time."

"Edmund!" Lucy came racing towards him. He caught her and swung her around. "You did fantastic!"

Ed grinned. "I got lucky! And, now I'm starving."

"Turkey legs then?" Lucy suggests.

"Great Lion, anything but turkey legs."

Edmund and Lucy began to walk off when the squire stopped them. "Aren't you going to change out of the armour, lad?"

"Oh yeah..." Ed remembered. He had been so comfortable in the armour he had forgotten he was wearing it. He followed the squire back to the arming tent with Lucy chattering away. With the help of the squire he took off his armour, only briefly flashing back to other times, in different tents with his brother beside him.

_'Other times,' _he said to himself definitively, shaking his head, remembering the promise he made to himself to live in the present.

He emerged from the tent with Lucy to see a surprising sight, that in retrospect, wasn't so surprising. She always showed up on her own time.

Serafina herself, dressed in a yellow dress, stood waiting by the tent's entrance, leaning on the tent pole.

She smiled that smile, the smile she always smiled, and spoke: "You put on quite the show, Sir Edmund. I wondered if you and your lovely sister wanted to join me for dinner?"

"Sure!" Lucy piped up immediately. She was _not _passing up this opportunity.

"Wonderful! Come along then," Serafina declared before grabbing an arm of each of her dinner companions and dragging them off to the "pub" set up for the festival. It served period food and drinks. So, normal English fare. Just as they were entering the building, the skies opened up, thunder booming.

The place was crowded, everyone else having the same idea as them three, but Serafina deftly led the way through the crowd to a small table near the dancefloor.

They sat down as the band struck up, "Oh come tell me Sean O'Farrell tell me why you hurry so..."

A server came by and dumped three bowls of stew and three flagons on the table. After eyeing Lucy he swept up the flagon in front of her and went back behind the bar. He came back a minute later with a cup of juice. Upon seeing Lucy's pout Edmund burst out laughing. "Sorry Lu, I guess it's not completely period accurate."

She glared at him before asking, "Are you going to introduce us?"

"Of course! Where are my manners? Serafina, this is my sister, Lucy. Lu, this is my...friend Serafina."

Serafina smiled across the table and held out her hand for Lucy to shake. "How do you do?"

"Well, and yourself?" Lucy replied. "I like her," she said to Edmund. His response was to lift his mug to his lips.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

About a hour and a round or two later, the girls were laughing like old friends. Edmund was describing a schoolboy experience, when he and Peter snuck into the kitchens at night and had to run away from the matron. Serafina had to really work at it in order to not spit out her beer. It was horrible beer really, watered down and tasting like muck, but that's part of the appeal, I suppose.

Just as the conversation came to a natural break the band started up again. Lucy recognized the tune first and grinned mischievously, pushing Edmund and Serafina out onto the dance floor.

"Step it out, Mary, my fine daughter/Step it out, Mary, if you can..."

Serafina threw her head back, laughing, before beginning to dance.

"In the village of Kilgory, there's a maiden young and fair/Her eyes shine like diamonds, she has long and golden hair/The horseman he comes riding, riding up to her father's gates/On a pure-white stallion, he comes at the strike of eight."

Edmund stared at the sight of the dancing girl, thinking back to a night not so long ago. Then she didn't have music. He shook himself out of his stupor just in time to dance with the chorus.

"Step it out, Mary, my fine daughter/Step it out, Mary, if you can/Step it out, Mary, my fine daughter/Show your legs to the countryman."

Serafina sang along to the next verse, bringing Edmund to dance near her.

"I don't want your gold and silver, I don't want your house and land/I am in love with a soldier, I have promised him my hand/But the father spoke up sharply: You will do as I command/You'll get married on a Sunday and you'll wear that wedding band."

She drew her hands down Edmund's cheeks during the line about being in love with a soldier. During the next verse Edmund, in a fit of lunacy or brilliance, slipped his arms around Serafina's waist.

"In the village of Kilgory there's a deep stream flowing by/On her wedding day at midnight she drowns with her soldier boy/In the cottage there is music, you can hear her father say:/Step it out, Mary, my fine daughter, Sunday is your wedding day."

With the chorus she and he sang along, arms around each other, him lifting her up and spinning her around to continue the dance.

"Step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out/step it out Mary!"

Laughing and clapping, Lucy sat on the table watching her brother dance with his someone. The barkeep, an old man with a long beard comes over and joins her. He holds out a mug. Lucy grins and takes it, scooting over.

That song ended and a new one started. "Near Banbridge town, in the County Down/One evening last July/Down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín/And she smiled as she passed me by."

The three stayed until the storm stopped and then left with the rest of the pubs patrons. Edmund and Serafina walked along the sidewalk, Lucy balancing on the stone wall alongside them.

"Can we walk you home, Serafina?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, I'll be fine, thank you," she replied.

"I seem to remember you like wandering around at night," Edmund said, smiling.

She said farewell at the next street corner, with look in her eyes and a smile on her lips. Edmund got the feeling she lived a lonely existence, and reveled in their meetings as much as he did.

As they walked toward home, Lucy looked at her brother out of the corner of her eye. "So, that's her."

He answered matter-of-factly. "Yep."

And that was that. That night though, as she prepared for bed, she heard him humming: "Step it out Mary/my fine daughter/Step it out Mary/if you can/Step it out Mary/show your legs to the Countryman."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

FINISHED! All I needed was a cup of tea and the right afternoon. All the songs are the versions sung by the High Kings. I don't own them.

SMILES! -CYI


End file.
